MFA Filmmaking Grad Yolanda Centeno Directs Commercials with Grey Advertising

June 13, 2016
Yolanda CentenoNew York Film Academy MFA Filmmaking alumna, Yolanda Centeno, has recently directed a viral campaign for one of the world’s top advertising and marketing organizations: GREY ADVERTISING GLOBAL.
Centeno started enjoying a great deal of success in 2014 with her multi-awarded NYFA thesis film called Zugzwang, which was accepted into more than 400 film festivals around the world.

All throughout 2015, Yolanda produced, directed and edited branded content video for international clients. She had several projects screen at a number of film festivals, but the biggest milestone has come while working for GREY.

The clients, Real Academia Española (the official organization in Spain in charge of maintaining the purity and good use of the Spanish language), along with the Spanish Advertising Academy, were looking for a campaign that would discourage the use of Anglicisms in Spanish advertising. The majority of Spaniards don’t understand the real meaning of those words, which are simply used in advertising to embellish the delivery of the campaign.

Based on that assignment, Grey’s creative directors discussed with director Yolanda Centeno what they could do to illustrate the misuse of anglicisms in Spain, in a way that was both effective and resonating.

They came up with four commercials that were launched on TV and internet. After a few days, the campaign went officially viral, and the concept has been analyzed and spread in many news and shows around the country, as well as in other Spanish-speaking countries.


The campaign has also been awarded two awards in the prestigious Ibero-American Advertising Film Festival, commonly known as “El Festival del Sol.”

As a result of this project, Yolanda Centeno, is now represented commercially by Central Films production company located in California, México and Spain.